Becoming Biblical

While serving as a counselor at the Care Pregnancy Center, I would question the clients about their romantic relationships. More times than I can count, the young Christian women told me of how their unbelieving boyfriends desperately needed them. These believing young women intended to stay with these young men and hoped to marry them. They thought this would give them the opportunity to bring a change in the young men and move them into a right place with God. No, no, no!

Two classes of mighty men lived in those days. The giants, or Nephilim, were men of great stature and physical force. When men existed for centuries, human vitality most likely produced a race of greater than ordinary height. They also possessed a violent will and tyrannized others. These qualities ensured their supremacy in the land. The giants appear to have been of Cainite stock. We could say these men were famous, or rather infamous. Sometimes, people make a name for themselves due to their greatness, but not necessarily their goodness. In addition to biblical writers, several unbelieving writers of that time attested to the existence of giants who usurped authority over others.

The word Nephilim signifies to fall. There are several reasons why the Nephilim were so called. They caused fear to fall on others. Through fear, they made others fall before them. They also rushed and fell on others with great violence, oppressing them in a cruel manner. And, as apostates, they fell from faith. The latter much better explains their status than the belief in them as apostate angels who fell from heaven and were on the earth during that time.

A new generation or succession of strong men are distinguished from the Nephilim. These were the offspring of the unholy unions between the sons of God, the Sethites, and the daughters of man, the Cainites. They most likely were more refined in manners than the Nephilim of pure Cainite descent. They were skilled warriors, men of valor and renown. These heroes, the Ha’gibborim, were distinguished from common man by their influential character, willing audacity, memorable exploits and deeds of notoriety.

If the intermarriages of the faithful Sethites and the unfaithful Cainites did not produce the corruption, it certainly raised it to a level of iniquity that was ripe for the coming judgment. In all ages, God has placed a type of curse upon marriages between believers and unbelievers. The sinful example of the ungodly party greatly hurts the other. It puts an end to the faith of the family, and the children are brought up according to the worldly values of the parent who is without the fear of the Lord. Professing to be the sons and daughters of God, if we can take anything away from Genesis 6:4, it’s that we must seek the Lord’s consent in marriage. If we prefer beauty, wealth, intelligence, or worldly honors of any kind, over devoted faith and holiness, God will not give us his blessing.